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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29778498">everything stays</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DNFANTI/pseuds/DNFANTI'>DNFANTI</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>TILL DEATH — dream smp [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Author is a Technoblade Apologist (Video Blogging RPF), Author is a Wilbur Soot Apologist, Catharsis, Dream is a bitch, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I make the rules, Mentioned Alexis | Quackity, Mentioned Floris | Fundy, Mentioned Jack Manifold, Mentioned Toby Smith | Tubbo, Mentioned TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Niki | Nihachu-centric, Wilbur Soot is Not a Ghost, Wilbur Soot-centric, alternate universe where niki is more affected by dream's manipulation of her best friend, ayup, feral niki arc, fuck dream!!, idk - Freeform, niki &amp; techno team up, niki and techno go brrr, niki and techno pink hair twins, niki and wilbur are best friends your honor, niki badass arc, niki is the main character, niki self healing arc, wilbur is alive yall</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:00:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,071</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29778498</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DNFANTI/pseuds/DNFANTI</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>niki saves wilbur after november 16th goes down. he has to deal with the consequences.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Niki | Nihachu &amp; Technoblade, Niki | Nihachu &amp; Wilbur Soot, No Romantic Relationship(s), Wilbur Soot &amp; Technoblade &amp; TommyInnit &amp; Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot &amp; TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot &amp; TommyInnit &amp; Phil Watson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>TILL DEATH — dream smp [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2128614</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. let’s go in the garden, you’ll find something waiting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>haha hi back again with more niki &amp; wilbur bc i love them so much aha</p>
<p>title from ‘everything stays’ from adventure time</p>
<p>au elements + kind of a vent post abt how much i hate c!dream &lt;3</p>
<p>T/CW: mentions of blood &amp; gore, mentions of mental illness, mentions of verbal abuse, pretty graphic torture scene in chapter two</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wilbur had blown L’Manberg to hell, ranting about unfinished symphonies and betrayal, singing the song on the walls that he wrote for his country, but he wasn’t dead. No, Phil’s— <em>Wilbur’s</em> sword had missed his heart. Niki had saved his life.</p>
<p>And if Wilbur wasn’t going to recover, if he wasn’t going to make amends, then goddamnit, Niki would make him.<br/>
And Niki wasn’t a person you wanted to cross when she was angry.</p>
<p>Wilbur’s eyes open, immediately squinting in the bright sunlight that filters through the sheer curtains. Wilbur isn’t the type to let his eyes adjust— no, he’s always moving, always rearing to go.</p>
<p>Except now, he isn’t really sure where to go. Because he’s dead, right? Phil stabbed him, he bled out in the button room with his father cradling his too—thin body in his arms, right?</p>
<p>The curly—haired man unfurls from the bed, letting out a choked noise when an agonizing pain spikes through his chest.</p>
<p>Why does it still hurt? It shouldn’t hurt, right?</p>
<p>Wilbur, for once in his goddamn miserable, leeching, bloodsucking life, takes it slow. He eases himself up, leaning heavily on the bedpost and then the doorframe. He, somehow, gets himself to the door and out to the garden.</p>
<p>Only to find a pink—haired woman tending to the flowers and bees.</p>
<p>No. No, Niki is supposed to be alive. Niki is alive. Technoblade wouldn’t have killed her, Dream promised he wouldn’t, Schlatt’s dead— the blast, she could’ve died in the explosion. But, no, he saw her staring at him, terrified eyes and that grief—stricken expression that almost made him regret it.</p>
<p>“You’re awake.” She regards him carefully, like he’s still a ticking time bomb.<br/>
He could be, for all he knows. Wilbur isn’t all that in sync with himself these days.<br/>
“Niki— You’re supposed to be alive,” Wilbur starts, his voice shaking. “Why—”<br/>
She smiles lightly, though it doesn’t reach her eyes.<br/>
“You aren’t dead, Wil. Neither am I. I saved your life,” she clarifies, gesturing for him to sit next to her.</p>
<p>Wilbur takes a seat on the bench slowly, his eyes not meeting hers. “What happened?”<br/>
Niki sighs. “Phil stabbed you. Perforated your left ventricle, narrowly missed your spinal cord. He punctured your lung, Wil. You went into a coma due to blood loss. We didn’t know if you’d make it. You also have countless shrapnel wounds from the explosion, not to mention the three broken ribs and fractured wrist. You… you almost died.”</p>
<p>“I should’ve. I deserve it,” he says quietly, flinching when Niki rests a hand on his shoulder. She gently turns him so he looks her in the eye for the first time in weeks.<br/>
“Do you want to?” She asks.<br/>
Wilbur shrugs. He isn’t sure, not anymore.<br/>
“You fucked up, Wil. But you don’t deserve to die. You were… suffering. Struggling. You needed help, Wil, not a revolution. Not a presidency, and certainly not a war.”</p>
<p>“Where are we?” He asks finally, after processing her words. Niki’s right, she’s always right. Wilbur’s always been volatile, always ready to light the fuse. He’s been unstable for a long, long time.<br/>
“Tubbo and I’s house. We- Tubbo decided the presidency wasn’t for him. We aren’t… we aren’t going to restart L’Manberg, Wil. You were right, but so was Techno. I’ve had enough of governments for a while. You aren’t fit to lead, whatever you might think. Tubbo’s seventeen, for crying out loud. Tommy’s… around,” Niki continues. “He’s not going to want to talk to you for awhile, Wilbur.”</p>
<p>Wilbur nods. “That’s fair. I was awful to him. And you. And everyone.”<br/>
Niki doesn’t make any move to disagree with him. “You were. But people change. And I’m willing to give you a chance.”<br/>
“I don’t deserve it,” Wilbur argues. Niki fixes him with those piercing blue eyes and stares him down.<br/>
“I’m giving you one chance, Wilbur. One. You better take it. And you’d better apologize to everyone you hurt. Tommy, Tubbo, Fundy, even if he won’t talk to you. Me. Quackity. Jack. We deserve that, you know that.”</p>
<p>“I do. And I’m sorry, I really am, Niki. I want to say I never meant to hurt anyone, but that isn’t true. I did, and I’m not really sure why. Because you’re all I have. I’m taking full responsibility for the things I did and said. No excuses. Not anymore.”<br/>
Niki nods, and then she smiles. “Come here.”<br/>
She wraps her arms around his thin shoulders, holding him tightly as he buries his face in the crook of her neck.</p>
<p>Wilbur and Tubbo talked. So did he and Technoblade, and Phil, and Quackity, and Jack.<br/>
He had a long conversation with Tommy, but his little brother still flinches when he walks into a room.</p>
<p>The only person he hasn’t apologized to is Fundy. His son. His little champion, the light of his life. Fundy’s still angry with him, and Wilbur understands why. He was a horrible father, still is really, but he’s trying. And he’s giving Fundy as much time as he needs, even if it takes his entire life. If Fundy is finally ready to hear him out and WIlbur’s on his deathbed, so be it. At least he’ll die in his son’s good graces.</p>
<p>He loves Fundy. So, so much. He remembers when he was born, a little fox kit hybrid, black tipped ears and wide, curious eyes. Tiny claws that gripped WIlbur’s finger and sharp teeth that nipped and hurt like a bitch.</p>
<p>And Wilbur hates that he hurt him, he hates that he drove him out, he hates that he pushed him away. And Wilbur knows it’s his fault, with the reprimanding, with the yelling, with the distrust. So for as long as Wilbur lives, he’ll never stop trying to get Fundy back. He’ll never stop fighting for his son.</p>
<p>Niki takes him to the ocean a week after he comes out of his coma. He’s still limping, chest still aching with a phantom sword skewered through him, the feeling suspended in his body.</p>
<p>Niki has an arm wrapped around his waist as she helps Wilbur down to the water. The sand is warm under his feet, sun blazing overhead. The water is crystalline, the sapphire waves matching Niki’s saccharine smile as she takes in the view. She looks happier than she’s ever been. Happier than in L’Manberg, Wilbur notices as the shore washes out.</p>
<p>“The water’s gotten higher,” she comments as they stop where the sea meets land. Her eyes reflect the water, having become a brighter color, shedding the months of pain and regret, the shadowed glaze that covered all of their eyes. It was like the smoke that had smothered the skies when he pressed the button clouded all of their gazes, choking the life out of them like Wilbur nearly had.<br/>
“I haven’t been to the ocean since I was a kid,” Wilbur admits, glancing down as saltwater splashes over their ankles.</p>
<p>He remembers when Phil brought Tommy and him to the sea when he was thirteen and Tommy was five. It had been Tommy’s first time seeing the soft blue waves lapping at the shore, the sand baking under the blazing sun. He’d chased his little brother up and down the coastline for hours, the smile he rarely wore now never leaving his lips, not even for a second. Tommy’s own grin was blinding, his one of his front teeth gone and a bandaid pasted on his cheek after he tripped in the yard.</p>
<p>Wilbur misses it. Misses being carefree and happy. Misses seeing <em>Tommy</em> happy. Now, all the blond boy shows are scowls and the occasional barking laugh that blankets all the shit he’s been through. All the shit Wilbur’s put him through.</p>
<p>Niki glances up, smile growing as she sees a winged figure flying above. She raises a hand in greeting, waving to Phil. The blond man circles down to them, landing easily on the shore. He’s wearing a grin, beaming as bright as the sun overhead as he joins the two.</p>
<p>“How are ya, mate?” He asks Wilbur, landing a hand on his shoulder softly, steadying. Wilbur shrugs, looking back out at the ocean.<br/>
“Still hurts.” He doesn’t mean to kill the mood, but he notices his father’s smile fall a bit, notices the light in his eyes die a little. “But it’s better.”</p>
<p>“Stronger every day,” Niki assures Phil, rubbing Wilbur’s back softly. Wilbur wants to scream at the two of them that he doesn’t deserve this, doesn’t deserve their kindness, but he’s scared. Scared that if he does, if he explodes again, they’ll leave. Be gone for good, and Wilbur will be alone.</p>
<p>Again.</p>
<p>(He wasn’t really alone, not once. But when you spiral, when your mental health is deteriorating, when paranoia and fear wrack your mind, whispers of doubt and claws of isolation clouding your judgment, you’re the only one in your little world of darkness and regret.)</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. daily and nightly, in little ways, when everything stays</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>niki &amp; techno go on a little adventure :)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: pretty graphic torture scene. starts after niki says “stand up, dream.”</p>
<p>aha niki &amp; techno go brr</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun’s gone down. It’s always been Niki and Wilbur’s tradition to watch the sunset, just soaking in the last rays as the sun dips below the horizon, comfortable in each other’s company. She and Wilbur had sat in the garden, Tubbo’s bees landing on their hands and buzzing about contentedly.</p>
<p>Now, she wanders out into the patio, under the moon. The pale light illuminates the stone bricks and washes the flowers in silver.</p>
<p>Technoblade is already sitting out there as she closes the door.<br/>“You’re out late,” she comments, seemingly startling him out of his thoughts. He perches on one of the benches, knee bouncing as he shrugs at her.<br/>“Couldn’t sleep.”<br/>“The voices?” Niki asks. “Mind if I sit?”<br/>He gestures for the spot beside him and nods. “They’ve been louder lately. A lot of bloodlust. More than usual,” Techno adds.</p>
<p>“I hear them, too,” she admits after a moment of silence. Technoblade fixes her with a questioning look, but doesn’t push.<br/>“They want me to kill him.”<br/>Techno knows who ‘him’ is. “Do you want to?”<br/>Niki hesitates. “I do. I want him to suffer, Techno. From all the shit he put us through. I would let Tommy and Tubbo do it, but… they’re just kids. They’ve seen enough bloodshed.”</p>
<p>“You’re only nineteen yourself,” Technoblade points out.<br/>“I’m surprised you know,” Niki responds, looking at her hands. “But I need to know that Dream can’t hurt my friends or family anymore.”<br/>Techno nods again. “We can hunt him down. You and I. We could start soon. He can’t be far.”<br/>Niki looks taken aback, her blue eyes shot with confusion and shock. “You’d do that?”</p>
<p>He grins. “I’ve never been one to turn down blood.”<br/>His smile looks almost manic at night, white teeth and those Piglin tusks glinting in the glow of the full moon. His pink hair is shorter now, the same length as Niki’s. He chopped it off after the demolition of L’Manberg.</p>
<p>Niki’s own hair is nearly the same shade now, a little more vibrant. She’d needed a change, needed to erase a little part of herself that still lived in L’Manberg, and that was her blond locks.</p>
<p>She and Technoblade, with the help of Phil, tracked Dream for two days. Found him hunkered in a small cabin in the plains, made of logs and cobble.<br/>“It looks fucking ugly,” Niki comments before she’s able to stop herself. Technoblade barks out a laugh, covering his mouth with a hand to control himself.</p>
<p>She grins, unsheathing her blade silently. It’s a pretty sword, one she’s only used for a few instances. Enchanted diamond, hilt wrapped with soft, supple leather. Techno’s axe is strapped across his back, trident in hand, his sword stowed on his belt.<br/>“Homenotfound,” Technoblade quips as the two rise to their feet.</p>
<p>Niki slams the haft of her sword onto the lock, breaking it easily and kicking the oak door open. Dream is sitting at the kitchen table, like he’s been expecting them.<br/>“What, you think I didn’t realize? C’mon, Tech, you know me better than that.”<br/>“You don’t get to call him that,” Niki says coldly, her voice silvery smooth.</p>
<p>Dream quirks an eyebrow. His mask is discarded, out of sight. “Oh? And you do? I didn’t know you two were friends now. Who would’ve thought, the sweet little baker and the Blood God, prancing through the fields together.”<br/>Niki’s face is calm, unamused. She tilts her head slightly.</p>
<p>“You’re scared, Dream.”<br/>Dream laughs. “Of you?”<br/>“Of death,” she answers in turn, her blade sliding silently under his chin. She lifts it slightly, forcing Dream to look her in the eye.<br/>Niki grins when she sees the fear lurking in his emerald gaze.</p>
<p>“I’m gonna make it hurt,” she tells him. “It won’t be quick. I’m going to make you suffer. I’ll make you hurt like Wilbur did. Like Tommy did. Like Tubbo, and Fundy, and Quackity, and me. Like George and Sapnap,” Niki continues, feeling her heart settle as Dream reacts when he hears his best friends’ names.<br/>“Stand up, Dream.”</p>
<p>He does as she says, because what else can you do when a woman with a face that reads murder and a sword pointed at your neck tells you to?<br/>Niki kicks the chair away as Technoblade leans against the doorway.<br/>And then her fist lands on his cheek, her boot slamming into his gut faster than he can register.</p>
<p>Dream lets out a pained shout as she swipes his feet from under him.<br/>“Do you know how much pain you’ve caused?” She asks, leaning over him. Her knees dig into his wrists, cutting off circulation quickly. Niki pulls a knife from her belt, resting the blade against his face gently.</p>
<p>“Every time I see this shade of green, it feels like this.” Niki digs the knife into his skin, carving a pretty red grin across his cheek. Dream nearly yells, a burning pain spreading rapidly through his body. His face feels like it’s on fire as she cuts into him.</p>
<p>“Every time I see a smiley face, it feels like this.” She takes one of his hands and stabs the blade through his palm. This time, he screams. He screams loud and clear, he’s sure the gods can hear him. She gives him an identical wound on his other palm, then takes the liberty of plunging the dagger into his stomach, twisting it ruthlessly. A shriek calls its way out of his throat.</p>
<p>“I can hear your voice in my head every night, Dream. Do you know what that’s like? Hearing you corrupt my best friend, hearing you manipulate and gaslight <em>children</em>?” Niki asks. She presses the blade to his throat. “You sure would look pretty with your throat slit.”</p>
<p>“Please,” he whispers.<br/>Niki chuckles darkly. “I’d love to carve out your vocal chords. But that lets you off easy, and we can’t have that, can we, Dream?”<br/>The voices are screaming in her head. Screaming for her to kill him, screaming for blood.</p>
<p>The voices in Niki and Technoblade’s head are synchronized, chanting a single phrase.<br/><em><b>BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD.</b></em><br/>Techno’s happy to pass on the mantle if it means Niki gets closure.</p>
<p>Niki slashes deep into his arms, cutting identical lines. Blood pools onto Dream’s floors, his cries echoing throughout his empty house.<br/>“That’s how hearing your name feels,” she seethes, staring him in the eye, never breaking.</p>
<p>For good measure, she plunges the dagger into his shoulder. Just because.<br/>“That’s ’cause I felt like it. You deserve it. And more,” Niki adds as she gives him an identical wound on the other shoulder.<br/>Dream lets out an unholy wail.</p>
<p>“Techno. Can I borrow your axe?” Niki asks quietly, pushing herself to her feet. Technoblade hands it to her without question. Niki weighs it in her hands, staring down at Dream.<br/>“I’ve thought about this a lot, you know. Killing you. I dream about it sometimes. And I wonder, when it’s over, do I get closure? Do I feel catharsis?”</p>
<p>She closes her eyes briefly. “Guess we’ll just have to find out.”<br/>When she opens them, Dream knows he’s done for. He’s already dead, really, watching Niki swing that axe at his neck.<br/>“Sweet dreams,” she tells him.</p>
<p>Niki buries the Axe of Peace in his throat, the blade hitting the blood—soaked wood beneath with a wet thunk. It’s not a clean cut, never a clean cut. It takes her two more swings to detach the tyrant’s head from his body, red spraying over her skin and clothes.</p>
<p>Niki, in all her blood—stained glory, the ichor of gods running down her cheeks, doesn’t look back as she steps out of Dream’s home, the Axe of Peace still clutched in her hand. Technoblade follows her out, standing in silence as she tilts her face to the sky, a blissed out expression across her features.</p>
<p>“Catharsis?” He finally asks.<br/>Niki turns to him, offering the axe. He shakes his head.<br/>“Catharsis,” she agrees.</p>
<p>When the two arrive home, Niki covered in blood, Technoblade completely clean, their little, broken family is confused.<br/>Niki sets the Axe of Peace on the table. “Dream is dead.”<br/>“He’s what?” Wilbur exclaims, taking in both of their states. “What did you do?”<br/>“I killed him.” Niki answers simply, her gaze not on any of them, but directed at the sky once more.</p>
<p>Wilbur is taken aback. Tommy is silent, for once in his goddamn life. Tubbo’s eyes are wide.</p>
<p>Phil looks proud.<br/>“The voices demanded blood,” Techno says.<br/>“So, we gave it to them,” Niki finishes.<br/>“You did. I was… backup.”<br/>Tommy laughs. “<em>The</em> Technoblade, the Blood God, was backup?” Techno nods in confirmation. “Jesus H. Christ.”<br/>“Niki,” Wilbur says. “C’mon.”</p>
<p>She lets him lead her to the bathroom, lets him run a bath and scrub the blood of her skin. Lets him dry her hair, lets him help her into comfortable clothes. He guides her out to the garden, the sun’s setting rays casting a golden orange glow over the stone and flowers. It sets Niki’s pink hair ablaze, warming their skin as they sit on their bench again.</p>
<p>“Was it worth it?” Wilbur asks finally.<br/>“Yeah. It was,” she responds, and rests her head on his shoulder.<br/>“Then I’m proud of you. I wouldn’t have had the guts.”<br/>“It’s okay, Wil. I’ve got you. I always have, always will.”</p>
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